Amazon is claiming that they are able to use robots to pack items four to five times faster than humans. Many of these robots, which are reported to cost as much as $1 million each, are still helping Amazon save time and money. This should come as no surprise to anyone, as Amazon is still considered by many to be a “tech” company, as opposed to a retailer. And while it is sympathetic to lament the loss of jobs for workers, this is where the industrial world is heading. The article below explains exactly what Amazon’s plans are for the ongoing robot rollout, and includes in interesting graph on the growth of Amazon warehouses in the past few years alone.
Amazon.com Inc is rolling out machines to automate a job held by thousands of its workers: boxing up customer orders.
The company started adding technology to a handful of warehouses in recent years, which scans goods coming down a conveyor belt and envelops them seconds later in boxes custom-built for each item, two people who worked on the project told Reuters.
Amazon has considered installing two machines at dozens more warehouses, removing at least 24 roles at each one, these people said. These facilities typically employ more than 2,000 people.
That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory. Amazon would expect to recover the costs in under two years, at $1 million per machine plus operational expenses, they said.
